Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) Announces $0.37 Quarterly Dividend

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:AIT) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.37 per share by the industrial products company on Friday, November 29th. This represents a $1.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th.

Applied Industrial Technologies has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Applied Industrial Technologies has a dividend payout ratio of 15.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Applied Industrial Technologies to earn $10.58 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 14.0%.

Applied Industrial Technologies Stock Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:AIT opened at $273.80 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $224.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $205.94. The stock has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.78 and a beta of 1.03. Applied Industrial Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $155.47 and a fifty-two week high of $276.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 3.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

Applied Industrial Technologies (NYSE:AIT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The industrial products company reported $2.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.25 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. Applied Industrial Technologies had a net margin of 8.57% and a return on equity of 22.68%. The firm’s revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Applied Industrial Technologies will post 9.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on AIT. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $210.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $245.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $230.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Applied Industrial Technologies from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $261.43.

Insider Activity at Applied Industrial Technologies

In related news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 3,366 shares of Applied Industrial Technologies stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.02, for a total value of $703,561.32. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 19,315 shares in the company, valued at $4,037,221.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Applied Industrial Technologies news, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 4,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $203.10, for a total value of $986,659.80. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 19,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,922,876.50. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Kurt W. Loring sold 3,366 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $209.02, for a total value of $703,561.32. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 19,315 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,037,221.30. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,927 shares of company stock worth $2,439,116 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.67% of the company’s stock.

Applied Industrial Technologies Company Profile

Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc distributes industrial motion, power, control, and automation technology solutions in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. It operates in two segments, Service Center Based Distribution, and Engineered Solutions. The company distributes bearings, power transmission products, engineered fluid power components and systems, specialty flow control solutions, advanced automation products, industrial rubber products, linear motion components, automation solutions, tools, safety products, oilfield supplies, and other industrial and maintenance supplies; and motors, belting, drives, couplings, pumps, hydraulic and pneumatic components, filtration supplies, valves, fittings, process instrumentation, actuators, and hoses, filtration supplies, as well as other related supplies for general operational needs of customers' machinery and equipment.